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I walked down the forest path, my tail dragging behind me across the ground. I felt the patterns of the neatly yet somewhat randomly placed rocks beneath me as I stepped. There was a noise in the distance by this massive willow tree, it sounded like someone crying. I walked around the tree to where they were.

"Excuse me ma’am, why are you crying?"

She looked up at me, her brown hair filled with gray as she moved it away. Her eyes were red from the crying, with massive black bags under them like she hadn’t slept in a month. She looked right past my eyes, her eyes like daggers gripping the attention of my soul.

She sniffled for a few moments and then replied: "Oh…nothing. That is nothing you can do anything about, my child."

"Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?"

"Yes my child. I’m crying because your species is killing itself. You all have let your poisons toxify the air. You have let your oceans become filled with the waste of your products. You have been killing my children, and the death toll is catching up."

She turned back towards her tree and continued to weep, her tears feeding into a creek that lead towards black smoke billowing out of a chimney. I approached her and started to hug. "Ma’am, what is your name?"

"You don’t recognize me child? I am your mother, Gaia. You live on my planet, breathing my air, drinking my water. You children are meant to be in harmony with me and eachother; but so many have chosen the path of hate." She started to weep again, her head resting on my shoulder. "Why has this happened? Why are you killing yourselves? Why can’t you see what your actions are doing to all of us?"

"I see it, mother. I just don’t really know what to do about it."

She looked back up at me, her eyes glowing slightly golden as she continued to cry. "I don’t know if there is anything that can be done, you’ve been broiling our cetaceans to death. Your factories dump poisons into our rivers and air. Your plastic is everywhere, even the parts of it the eye can’t see. You have created fantastic wonders, but you’ve changed us in the process. I don’t know."

I reached over with my tail, hugging with that too. She settled back into me and continued to cry.

"Thank you for at least reaching out to care, my child. So many of you exist but so few have gone this far. I don’t know how much longer I can continue to support your numbers. You have grown as a dominant force on the planet, but you have destroyed so much in your growth."

The world started to bend and snap with my tears. I grabbed into Gaia for dear life and continued to hug. "I won’t forget this, mother."

"I know you won’t, my child. Tell others what I have told you. Do not let this message go unheard, even if it’s only to one person."

The world started to fade and I felt my bed beneath my back get more and more present as I sat there.

I woke up.